1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to an in-wheel drive apparatus and, more particularly, to an in-wheel drive apparatus which minimizes a distance between a wheel center to a chassis coupling section to enhance chassis durability.
2. Description of the Related Art
The depletion of fossil fuel resources has stimulated development of electric vehicles, which drive a motor using electric energy stored in a battery, instead of vehicles using fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and the like.
Electric vehicles are classified into a true electric vehicle which drives a motor using only electric energy stored in a rechargeable battery, a solar cell vehicle which drives a motor using photovoltaic energy, a fuel cell vehicle which drives a motor using a hydrogen fuel cell, a hybrid vehicle which drives an engine using fossil fuel while driving a motor using electricity, and the like.
Generally, an in-wheel motor system is used for a vehicle that drives a motor with electricity as a drive source as in the electric vehicle. The in-wheel motor system enables direction transmission of power to a wheel using a motor disposed inside a wheel rim, unlike a gasoline or diesel vehicle in which wheels are rotated by power transmitted through an engine, transmission, and drive shaft.
Accordingly, the in-wheel motor system may reduce not only the weight of the vehicle but also energy loss during power transmission by eliminating drive and power transmission units, such as an engine, a transmission, and differential gears.
It should be noted that the above description is provided for understanding of the background art and is not a description of a well-known technique in the art.
Conventionally, it is difficult to reduce the distance from a wheel center to a chassis coupling section due to the shapes of a rear cover and a motor, thereby making it difficult to inhibit deterioration in chassis durability.
Further, since a decelerator module is installed inside a motor housing, it is necessary to disassemble the motor housing upon replacement or repair of the decelerator module. Furthermore, since an exclusive jig must be used to disassemble the motor housing, replacement or repair of the decelerator module consumes unnecessary time and cost.
Therefore, there is a need to solve such problems.